PLASTICITY OF CORTICAL ENSEMBLE CONNECTIVITY IN VISUAL LEARNING

视觉是一种重要的感觉方式，我们依靠它来探索世界并了解我们的 周围环境。视觉系统障碍会导致严重的人际关系缺陷和经济损失 贫困。尽管在描述视觉感知的细胞基础方面已经取得了很大进展， 人们对处理视觉信息的大脑回路的连接性知之甚少，甚至更少 了解这种连接如何随时间变化。我建议利用尖端的机器人和 光学技术可阐明神经元整体（细胞的协同组）如何在神经元中相互连接 初级视觉皮层（V1），视觉感知产生的新皮质区域。 V1 展览中的乐团 具有可重复的空间和时间结构的活动模式定义了功能词汇 皮质微电路。最近的研究表明，集成的激活是必要的，并且 足以满足视觉感知。赫布假说表明，反复出现的神经元 随着时间的推移，协同活动（整体）可能比彼此之间的突触联系更紧密 到系综之外的神经元。我将开发一个高通量工具来测试这个赫布假设 使用机器人电生理学和全息技术研究群体内的优先突触连接 光遗传学刺激（目标 1）。然后我将描述皮质的功能和结构变化 使用小鼠神经元的慢性双光子钙成像进行视觉学习期间的微电路 视觉皮层，与突触可塑性和学习的赫布假说相关（目标 2）。成功 当前项目的完成将在合奏活动和 视觉学习过程中的大脑，有助于更全面地理解视觉 处理是解决失明有效治疗方案缺乏问题的先决条件。

Vision is a critical sensory modality that we depend on to navigate through the world and understand our surroundings. Disorders of the visual system lead to severe interpersonal deficits and to economic immiseration. Although much progress has been made describing the cellular basis of visual perception, little is known about the connectivity of brain circuits that process visual information, and even less is known about how this connectivity changes over time. I propose to leverage cutting-edge robotic and optical technologies to clarify how neuronal ensembles (coactive groups of cells) are connected in the primary visual cortex (V1), the neocortical region where visual perception arises. Ensembles in V1 exhibit activity patterns with reproducible spatial and temporal structures which define the functional vocabulary of cortical microcircuits. It has been recently shown that the activation of ensembles is necessary and sufficient for visual perception. The Hebbian hypothesis suggests that neurons that are repeatedly coactive over time (ensembles) are likely to be more strongly synaptically connected to one another than to neurons outside of the ensemble. I will develop a high-throughput tool to test this Hebbian hypothesis of preferential synaptic connectivity within ensembles using robotic electrophysiology and holographic optogenetic stimulation (Aim 1). I will then describe the functional and structural changes of cortical microcircuits during visual learning using chronic two-photon calcium imaging of neurons in the mouse visual cortex, in relation to the Hebbian hypothesis of synaptic plasticity and learning (Aim 2). Successful completion the current project will establish a structural link between ensemble activity and the activity of the brain during visual learning, yielding inroads towards a more complete understanding of visual processing, a prerequisite to addressing the dearth of effective treatment options for blindness.